Entrepreneurs too often fumble employee training

Saturday

Nov 17, 2012 at 9:16 AM

Bob PapesMoney Matters

One of the common mistakes entrepreneurs make is how they hire and train, or should I say, do not adequately train, new employees. Most owners look to see if an applicant has had prior experience in the type of job responsibilities they need to staff.

After they hire a person, they usually define the activities of the job for them. If there is a job description, it usually defines the duties of the job only.

While this is all well and good, rarely do the owners or the job descriptions clearly define the results the employee is to achieve. Most owners explain the job duties and train new employees in the mechanics of the job, and then they simply tell them to “do a good job.”

A major problem is that the owners do not define what a good job looks like. One major reason for this is that business owners usually do not establish quantified, measurable goals for their people.

Without being able to actually measure results, doing a good job becomes subjective. More importantly, what a good job looks like to the employee is often very different than the owner’s idea.

Another key reason for employee problems, lack of results and employee turnover is that owners usually train new employees on basic duties, such as operating the cash register and using credit cards, but rarely do they train employees on customer interaction techniques to enhance sales. If you go to a chain restaurant, for example, servers will always try to push a desert. Training employees on key behaviors and how to interface with both customers and other employees is a missing link in far too many businesses.

Very often employees are not given clear guidelines on their approval authorities. For example, can an employee discount damaged merchandise, match a competitor’s price in a newspaper ad or initiate a service call on malfunctioning equipment?

I once worked for a Fortune 500 company where my boss told me that another manager, who reported to him, would also be working for me. After about two months of continued conflict between the other manager and me, we both went to our common boss to get it straightened out. This lack of clarity often results in frustration and anger on both the part of an owner and the employee. This leads to poor morale, which in turn leads to poor results and high employee turnover. High employee turnover rates severely cripple businesses. I see far too many businesses with high employee turnover rates that have been going on for a long time without any improvement.

Spending enough time properly training your new employees is far too often skipped by owners because they are wearing so many hats; they are often too busy doing everyday work and not spending enough time managing their people. Working hard is important, but spending your time managing the right stuff is priceless.

Bob Papes is a local business expert and the author of two books, “Management During an Economic Crisis” and “Turnaround.” His email address is: www.rpapes@bellsouth.